Category: Visiting Author

Liz Starin is both an author and an illustrator, and St. Anne’s-Belfield School students have had so much fun learning about her and sharing her work during an author visit thanks to the Virginia Festival of the Book. Students loved all of Liz’s books – but Splashdance, which Liz both wrote and illustrated, was so beloved […]

Thanks to the 2017 Virginia Festival of the Book, St. Anne’s-Belfield School welcomed more than 2,400 young students from around the Charlottesville area onto the Learning Village Campus on Wednesday for a special event: Out of Wonder: Poets Celebrating Poetry – A Conversation Between author Kwame Alexander and illustrator Ekua Holmes, moderated by Sarah FitzHenry. In my […]

Did you hear any roosters crowing with the sunrise this morning? Local Virginia author Kimberly K. Schmidt sure did! On her farm near Scottsville, VA, Ms. Schmidt houses hens, roosters, horses, and all kinds of other animals. After years of watching their adventures at Grayson Farm, she decided to write a book about all of the […]

Spring is officially here, bringing with it all of the excitement of beautiful weather, bright flowers, and fun activities! Johnson is a flurry of excitement these days, and it’s all a librarian can do to keep up. March and April have been busy busy busy, and I’m happy to share a snapshot of some of […]

This week, kindergarten and first grade students got a visit from a very special guest – Chris Barcomb, who is a medically retired officer from the Albemarle County Police Department, a talented author, a comic book aficionado, and so much more! Mr. Barcomb is the author of the brand new Superior Sam series, and today […]

This March, Johnson students were lucky enough to get to see Kate DiCamillo speak during the Virginia Festival of the Book. The experience was spectacular, and I wrote a blog post to share the wonderful things that we learned. Since then, the post has garnered hundreds of page views, been shared by Charlottesville City Schools […]

This afternoon, local author Priya Mahadevan brought the exotic and colorful world of India into the Learning Leopard Library! Mrs. Mahadevan’s new book, Princesses Only Wear Putta Puttas, tells the tale of Fey Fey (based on a real Johnson first grade student!), who visits India and loves the colorful clothes she gets to wear to her cousin’s […]

Last Friday, students from all over Charlottesville City and Albemarle County zipped rain coats, boarded field trip buses, and made their way through the rainy city of Charlottesville to St. Anne’s-Belfield school. More than 1,200 students gathered in the STAB Convocation Center and sat, tapping their feet and twiddling their thumbs nervously. There was electricity in […]

Thursday afternoon, Virginia Festival of the Book author Anne Marie Pace stopped by Johnson to teach our students what it’s like to be an author. She had some great insider details about the writing and editing process, and even showed us real drafts of her Vampirina Ballerina series! Mrs. Pace started from the beginning, talking about where […]

This Thursday, author Sandy Pugh visited Johnson to put on a Peeper-ific show for our kindergarten, first, and second grade students! Sandy introduced us to the Peeper gang, read us a few Peeper stories, and even gave us a sneak preview of some new books that she has in the works. In the picture above, […]